http://www.jewishworldreview.com --
WHILE THE VICE PRESIDENT runs as fast as he can from the dreaded association with
President Clinton, Republican presidential candidate John McCain seems to model himself after
Slick Willie. Among his Clintonesque qualities, McCain has mastered Slick Willie's habit of
deflecting criticism by completely misconstruing it -- usually as a personal attack that
somehow inures to the greater glory of John McCain.

Remember when Jerry Brown asked Clinton about suspicious dealings between the Arkansas
governor's office and the Rose Law Firm during a primary debate in 1992, and Clinton
responded as if Brown had called Hillary an ugly pig? "You ought to be ashamed of yourself
for jumping on my wife," Clinton retorted -- indignantly, no less. "You're not worth being on
the same platform as my wife." Very chivalrous and all, but of course, Brown hadn't attacked
Hillary or even the Rose Law Firm. He had attacked the corrupt governor who was running for
higher office.

Similarly, when concerns were aired about McCain's famous temper, McCain denounced his
critics for claiming he had developed a temper as a result of his torture at the hands of the
Viet Cong. Of course, no one had ever implied that McCain's temper resulted from his heroic
martyrdom as a POW. No one, that is, but McCain himself.

One of McCain's most recent answer-a-different-question tricks is so ludicrous, one
almost wishes he would just stick with accusing his critics of maligning his service during
the Vietnam War.

Anti-abortion groups have been keeping a close eye on McCain ever since he peremptorily
announced that he supported the continued vitality of Roe vs. Wade during an interview last
summer with the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle ("certainly in the short term,
or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe vs. Wade").

McCain was already a bit worrisome to anti-abortion groups because of his vote in favor
of federal funding for experimentation on aborted baby parts. So when the pro-life crowd
started turning up jokes McCain was telling about old people, they became alarmed at what
this might say about McCain's position on another right-to-life issue, euthanasia -- e.g.,
killing old people.

McCain had apparently jokingly referred to an old folks' home called Leisure World as
"Seizure World," and had remarked that the good thing about Alzheimer's is that you get to
hide your own Easter eggs. (I hate to see wisecracks ruled out of order in politics as much
as the next guy -- probably more than the next guy -- but, you have to say, it's difficult to
imagine Ronald Reagan referring to an old person's home as "Seizure World.")

In any event, two National Right to Life Committee chapters began running ads simply
stating facts about McCain: his vote in favor of experimentation on aborted baby parts, his
support for Roe, and his jokes about the old folks' home and Alzheimer's disease.

The odd twist in this episode was, again, McCain's response. The McCain campaign began
issuing press releases and statements to the media asserting that NRLC's secret motive was to
prevent McCain's campaign finance reform proposals from becoming law. One McCain operative
said, for example: "The right-to-life organization is deathly afraid of McCain becoming
president, because they know he will enact campaign finance reform and they will lose their
six-figure salaries."

Now admittedly, there is no shortage of ulterior motives, sneaky stratagems and dirty
tricks in the political realm. But to accuse an anti-abortion group of using the life issue
as a subterfuge to oppose a candidate on the issue they REALLY care about -- campaign finance
reform -- is sheer lunacy. (And I am not blaming the Viet Cong here.)

It wasn't just out-of-control staffers slipping deranged press releases onto McCain's Web
page. The candidate himself responded to the ads saying they were the product of Washington
lobbyists "in their $1,000 suits." A lot of right-to-lifers go around in $1,000 suits. And by
the way, Ralph Nader is more likely to be drawing a "six-figure" salary than anyone in a
right-to-life organization. Yet McCain has repeatedly claimed that abortion interest groups
are in it for the money. "We, again, are gridlocked by both ends of the spectrum," he told
Don Imus on Nov. 23, 1999, "who have turned the cause (of abortion) into a business."

If the NRLC could be accused of anything, it would be earnest zealotry on the issue of
life. These people are the consummate single-issue voters. They would happily embrace a 100
percent tax rate in return for an end to abortion and euthanasia. It doesn't matter which
side you're on here. Neither side (except the abortionists themselves) is making money off
abortion.

It takes a special kind of person to twist disapproval of one's jokes about the elderly
into a self-righteous boast about being a martyred "reformer," or criticism of one's temper
into a tear-jerking reverie on one's war record. (Or an attack on a corrupt governorship into
an attack on one's wife.)

McCain could probably accuse me of all sorts of ulterior motives. So let me just say,
there's a lot I don't like about McCain (excepting his illustrious war record). But most of
all, I don't like smarmy politicians who instinctively revert to the easy lie, rather than
dealing with the
truth.